Free The Third Adventure by Gordon Korman Page B

one-hundred-percent legal. He’s
yours
!”
    The Drysdales looked in amazement from the paper to Pitch and finally to their daughter and her beloved Doberman.
    â€œWell,” Mr. Drysdale said emotionally, “it seems as if this might be the happy ending we were hoping for.”
    There were nods of agreement from anxious parents reunited at last with their missing campers.
    â€œNot yet!” declared a strident voice.
    The Slovaks’ car had been at the back of line, so Ben’s mother and father were the last to hustle onto the scene.
    â€œWhere’s my baby?” bellowed Estelle Slovak. “Where’s Benjamin?”
    Snickers soon morphed into concern as the company looked around.
    â€œWait a minute,” Griffin blurted, confused. “Where
is
Ben?”
    At that moment, a small furry form burst out of the cottage, stopped on a dime on the front step, and paused, sniffing the air. It took Ferret Face barely an instant to locate his master, sprawled on the wet ground, fast asleep from the stresses of the night. He hopped onto Ben’s stomach, burrowed beneath his T-shirt, and delivered a small bite.
    â€œOw!” Ben sat up, rubbing his eyes, and was surprised to find himself the center of attention. “What did I miss?”
    His mother scooped him into a hug that bordered on a wrestling move. “I could kill you,” she said adoringly.
    â€œUh, excuse me, folks,” Dominic Hiller called in an embarrassed tone. “Could any of you give us a ride to the nearest town? We’ve had a little — car trouble.”
    Mrs. Drysdale’s eyes widened in outage. “You must be joking! You two bullies threatened our children and put them in danger! And
that man
” — pointing at Palomino — “tried to cheat us out of our pet!”
    â€œMore than a pet!” Savannah chimed in. “A member of the family!”
    â€œAnd you helped!” Logan accused Hiller, mustering all his acting skill to portray a lawyer delivering a devastating denunciation in court. “You tried to dognap Luthor at the Showdown!”
    â€œYou took out a court order against us,” Mr. Drysdale added. He took the dog-pound form from Pitch and waved it angrily. “And you deliberately hid this evidence so the judge would rule against us! How do you explain that?”
    Short, pudgy Palomino drew himself up to his full height, which was still a head shorter than Hiller. “I forgot.”
    Griffin could hardly believe his ears. “You
forgot
?”
    â€œI forgot I gave the dog up,” Swindle said stubbornly. “I thought he was still mine. It was an honest mistake.”
    â€œHonest!” Savannah spat, squeezing Luthor tighter. “You shouldn’t be allowed to use that word, Mr. Palomino! Too bad there’s no court order for that.”
    â€œMaybe not,” said her father, glaring at Palomino. “But if you come near my family or any of these kids again, we’re going to take this evidence to Judge Bittner and have you arrested for fraud. Now start walking. No one’s going to drive you anywhere.”
    Luthor underscored this statement with a threatening growl — a reminder that the vicious guard dog he had once been could still be called to active duty if necessary.
    â€œCome on, boss,” Hiller put in quickly. “It’s a nice night for a stroll.”
    It was just about the opposite of that. The warm muggy air buzzed with mosquitoes, and the pitch-black rural night made it impossible to navigate a dirt road that had been turned into a muddy minefield of puddles. Yet the cottage was no longer an alternative — not with the inside trashed, and the animal that had trashed it wide awake and stationed between them and the front door.
    Swindle and his hired man sloshed off into the darkness, utterly defeated. Twice S. Wendell Palomino had gone up against The Man With The Plan. And twice he’d been